The Eastern Oregon University women's and men's basketball teams will take their 3-1 conference records to Portland for four important games beginning Wednesday.
The Mountaineers travel to Concordia University Wednesday and will play at Warner Pacific College on New Year's Eve. Eastern's opponents combine for a 34-15 record, and they are all .500 or better. All four contests will be free to view through CCC TV and Penn Atlantic video streaming.
The Concordia women (8-4) (2-1) finished last year at No. 10 and climbed as high as 19 this season, after beginning the year at No. 21. The Cavaliers come into Wednesday's game at No. 24 on a two-game win streak. CU defeated Warner Pacific on Dec. 18 and Willamette on Monday.
EOU rides a two-game win streak after upsetting No. 9 Southern Oregon on Dec. 18 and Oregon Tech the following night. Concordia returns home after seven straight road games dating back to Nov. 24. The Cavs have yet to lose on their home court this season (4-0). Their lone conference loss was a 66-62 loss at Southern Oregon to open the conference schedule.
Concordia has won three out of the last four games over the Mountaineer women, including a sweep in last season's two meetings. The Cavaliers won by seven in La Grande on Jan. 17, 2009, and by eight in Portland on Feb. 6, 2009.
The Concordia men have been one the surprises so far this season in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The Cavaliers (10-2) (1-2) were picked to finish ninth in the league in the preseason poll, but are three spots out of the top 25 poll and were rated the fourth best team in the last conference rating.
Concordia's two conference losses came on the road to two nationally top 10 opponents, No. 5 Oregon Tech and No. 9 Warner Pacific. CU began their season 8-0 and have scored 100 or more points in three games this season. The Cavs lead the conference with a 91.1 points per game scoring average. EOU's defense ranks first in the conference in scoring defense per game, 64.6.
Saturday the Eastern Oregon women travel to the opponent that ended their 2008-09 season, Warner Pacific (6-6) (1-2). The Mountaineers have lost two straight to the Knights and have not won at WPC since Dec. 19, 2007.
Warner Pacific returns All-CCC selections, Kelsey Mattsen (11.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and Kristina Schumacher (9.7 ppg).
They have four players that average between eight and 11 points per game. The match-up will pit the conference's second best three-point percentage defense, EOU's .277, versus Warner Pac's .261, which is last in the league. Eastern is first in the CCC in three-point percentage offense, .386.
The Eastern Oregon men will square off against WPC in what would be a clash of potential top 15 teams, if the rankings were released Monday like a traditional week. But, due to the holiday break the next national poll will not be until Jan. 11.
Warner Pacific rides the conference's longest win streak at five games, and is 3-0 at home this season. The Knights (10-3) (2-1) are ranked ninth in the country and rated second the league. Their lone conference loss came at OIT by nine points.
WPC has many weapons to choose from, Jake Glisson (18.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg) All-America post Kaylone Riley (12.4 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 4.2 bpg), and NCAA Div. 1 transfer, Reggie Guyton (14.5 ppg, 4.2 apg, 4.0 rpg).
The games can be followed many ways. Find your desired link below and enjoy. If you can not make the trip to Portland and are in La Grande, stop by Benchwarmers Pub and Grill where the games will be video streamed live.
